The beginning of an era for Dominique, in 1979, he started recording his first Album with a folk singer.

Thanks to his brother, Dominique was already comfortable in studio. He gave Dominique all the tools he needed to start developing in the art of drumming for pop or folk songs.

College brought a sense of funk and jazz playing, even though drum lessons were not available in that program, Dominique managed to take what he needed in that environment. The experience was invaluable as he met a lot of people and also had a chance to play constantly.

Unfortunately, doing sessions or concerts late at night was not always compatible with studies. But Dominique managed to get through it in 3 years.

At that time, in 1982, he met up with singer Gaston Mandeville who took Dominique into his band and gave him the opportunity to play on his first 3 albums. From then on Dominique played with many singers and bands in Quebec.

Then came calling the opportunity to do this TV show called Epopee Rock, which was a soap about the 50’s era, with Dominique an actor/drummer on the show. The 6 years it was on the air were filled with club dates, recording for albums and jingles. Sessions were not so easy then, since it still was the 80’s and its drum machine “tightness phobia” it was hard on the morale, and, as Dominique remembers, a very humbling experience.

But determined as he was, Dominique started to get interested in drum machines and electronic drum pads. This gave him a chance to stay in as many sessions as he could because it was a rare thing to see a drummer open minded about drum machines. “It ended up being my salvation in the studio scene”, says Dominique.

So he kept working. Also that period was the dawn of some writing experimenting. “I was more involved in writing rock songs. Owning a recording studio (pretty small then) gave me the chance to start learning about being a sound engineer. I then become very aware of sounds, especially drum sounds, and I started developing my own sound even more. The writing brought me the desire to learn other instruments (bass, keyboards and a bit of guitar). I became more and more careful and ‘all ears’ for all other musical interaction.”

Dominique recommends, “Learning about how to play with other musicians and always respecting the style of the music your playing , is the most important thing about being a drummer. Of course the time, the chops count, but in my view it is nothing if you don’t respect the style of music. In 1992, I got hired to play in the 5 day a week TV talk show called Benezra, It lasted 3 years and gave a chance to play with a lot of international artists.”

Currently, Dominique Messier is playing five nights a week with Celine Dion’s “A New Day” at the Coliseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and will continue to do this for the foreseeable future!